


The Art of Parenting \-DISCONTINUED-/

by phansuniteinluv



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Babysitting, DAN AND PHIL - Freeform, Dan Howell - Freeform, M/M, Mentioned Louise Pentland, Phil Lester - Freeform, dan and phil are engaged, darcy and louise, louise Pentland - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phansuniteinluv/pseuds/phansuniteinluv
Summary: Louise is out of town and needs someone to take care of Darcy and Pearl.  She asks Dan and Phil who, after a bit of discussion, accept.  Though they've never babysat before, especially an eight and two-year-old, they are excited to find out how it's done!
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Kudos: 22





	1. A Text from Louise

*Ding*

Phil looked down at his phone that was now lit up from a new text message. It was from Louise.

Louise: _I’m going out of town this weekend and will not be able to take Pearl and Darcy with me, however, and I know this is a lot to ask on such short notice, you and Dan are the only people I would trust taking care of them for the weekend, especially since the girls are so comfortable with you two, so it would mean a lot to us if you could take care of them for the weekend?_

After reading the text, Phil smiled, praying that Dan would agree to this. 

They hadn’t seen the girls for what seemed like years, even though it had only been a few months, and this would be a great way to bond with them. Though they didn’t have too much experience with babysitting, they would figure it out. Plus, they were hoping to have a baby in the next few years and this would be great practice.

Phil: _Sounds great! Let me just double-check with Dan and I’ll get back to you!_

-

“Dan!”

Phil called out to his fiancé as he ran up the stairs to their bedroom.

“Ya?”

Dan called back, looking up from his spot in the middle of the bed, still scrolling on Tumblr even though it was the middle of the day and he should most definitely by up right now.

Phil jumped on top of him, smiling as he moved the laptop, and pecked him on the lips, earning a cute laugh from Dan. 

“You’re happy! What’s up?”

“So… Louise is going out this weekend and needs somebody to take care of Pearl and Darcy!”

Dan looked extremely skeptical. He knew that Phil was going to ask if they could do it, but he wasn’t sure that he could take care of even one child, let alone two.

“Umm- Phil I don’t want to upset you but I’m not sure that’s the best idea. I can hardly take care of myself, let alone two children. One of which is only two.”

Phil had thought this would happen, so he wasn’t extremely disappointed, just more determined to convince Dan.

“Well, I think you take care of yourself fine. Plus, we are planning on having a kid in the next few years aren’t we?”

Dan’s eyes lit up at the mention of them having a baby of their own.

“I mean, yes. But that’s in a few years, isn’t it?”

He laughed a bit, but Phil continued talking.

“But hear me out… This could be great practice for us! Plus, Darcy is eight now and I’m sure she could help us out a bit. I mean, she’s extremely mature for her age. And we haven’t seen the girls in a few months and this could be a really great time to catch up with them and have some nice bonding time! Imagine how much fun this could be!”

The excitement on Phil’s face was too much for Dan to say no to. He couldn’t bear being the one to crush an opportunity that Phil was so genuinely excited for. Especially because Phil was right, this could be a really good experience… and it could be fun.

“Ok. This could be good for us. And for them as well. I want them to be comfortable and they’ve known us since they were born, so I suppose we are a pretty good couple to look after them.”

Phil smiled even bigger and threw a fist up in the air.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

He hugged Dan tightly and gave him another kiss on the lips before getting off of him and running back down the stairs to where he had left his phone.

Phil: _Good news!! Dan agreed! So just let us know some more details and it’s a go!_

Louise: _Oh my god, thank you both so so so much! This really means a lot to me. I didn’t know who else to ask. And when I asked Darcy, she asked if you two were available, so I know this will mean a lot to her as well. I’ll drop them off at your place on Friday night. Maybe we can get dinner together or something? Then you’ll be able to catch up a bit while I’m still there._

Phil: _That sounds good! We’ll go shopping tomorrow, is there anything specific that the girls_

_like?_

Louise: _I usually buy fruits and vegetables, any is fine, and then Darcy has taken a liking to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Oh, and she’s now requesting vanilla ice cream. You don’t have to get that though. Cereal is fine for her in the morning. Standard stuff like orange juice, crisps, any other snacks that you all usually get will be fine. As for Pearl, I’ve been feeding her scrambled eggs in the morning with a glass of milk. I’ll brink some other snacks that she can eat so don’t worry too much about her food. I’ll also bring her nappies and baby wipes._

Phil: _Thank you! We’re excited to see you and the girls on Friday. Let’s just eat at our place and we can order take out. Is that good?_

Louise: _Yes! See you then. Thanks, again!_

Phil: _No problem! We can’t wait to see you!_

Phil ran back up the stairs and jumped on the bed next to Dan who looked over and smiled.

“Hi, Bear!”

Dan giggled and pushed his laptop off to the side.

“Hi.”

Moving closer, Dan draped his arms around Phil and gave him a soft kiss.

“I’m excited to see Darcy and Pearl. Did Louise tell you when she would drop them off?”

Phil nodded his head and smiled excitedly. 

“Yes! I told her we would get groceries tomorrow, to which she gave a few suggestions, and then we planned to meet up here on Friday night to eat together and for her to drop off the girls.”

“Sounds great!”

Phil brushed a piece of hair out of Dan’s eyes and smiled happily.

The comfortable silence lasted for a while, the two getting lost in one another’s eyes.

“I love you so much, Dan. I hope you know that.”

“I do… and I love you too.”

Dan yawned and buried his head into Phil’s chest, starting to fall asleep even though it was the middle of the day.

“Dan?”

He hummed into Phil’s chest, not wanting to be disturbed.

“You know it’s the middle of the day babe?”

“Mhm. But I’m tired.”

“Ok then.”


	2. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the two prepare for the girls' arrival, they decide to be a bit of a tease to one another. Enjoy some fluff, pining, and need. From, your's truly. ;)

The sun shone brightly through the closed blinds as Dan rolled over into Phil’s side, trying his best to bury his head.

“Dan?”

He groaned into Phil’s chest.

“Dan… you’ve barely gotten up in the past few days. You need to get up, Bear.”

He whined again and rolled over, dramatically sprawling out all of his limbs.

“ _Whyyyyy?_ ” 

“Dan. Come on… The girls are coming tomorrow and we need to get ready.”

Phil sat up in bed and looked down at Dan, running his hands through his hair and smiling at the soft look on his face.

“Ok?”

Dan shifted as well, now sitting up, and rubbed his eyes. 

“Ok.”

With a small kiss on Dan’s forehead, Phil replied.

“Thank you.”

-

It took almost an hour, but the two lovers were finally able to make it out of bed. Phil made coffee in the kitchen and poured two bowls of cereal, one for each of them.

Dan came up behind Phil and snaked his arms around him, resting his head on his shoulder and giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek.

“What are you doing?”

Dan shrugged.

“Hugging you. You looked too hot to ignore.”

Phil rolled his eyes and blushed a bit, trying to shrug Dan off of him even though he enjoyed the heat from his body.

“You can’t do this while the girls are here. You know that right?”

Dan squeezed Phil harder before letting go and leaning up against the counter.

“I know, that’s why I’m doing it now.”

Phil rolled his eyes again and laughed.

“Ok then. Take your coffee and cereal. We have a lot to do today.”

Dan groaned and grabbed his food before sitting down at the dining table.

“I know. Do you have a shopping list? I can order the food and have it delivered. I don’t feel like going anywhere and I know for a fact that you don’t either.”

Phil made his way to the table as well and sat across from Dan, intertwining their feet just for the fun of it.

“Of course I have a list. I’ll text it to you later.”

Dan nodded happily and started eating his cereal, moaning as he took a large bite.

“Oh my god, Dan you can’t do that when the girls are here.”

He looked up from his cereal and shrugged his shoulders.

“Never said I was going too.”

Phil kicked Dan from under the table and gave him an annoyed look before taking another bite of cereal. He responded by looking Phil in the eyes and winking.

“Those glasses look hot on you. You should wear them more. You wear your contacts way too much.”

Once again, Phil looked up from his slightly soggy cereal and gave Dan a flabbergasted look.

“Oh, so you’re being like _this_ today.”

This was going to be a hard day if Dan decided to be a tease all day. Phil knew he did it for fun, but it was still extremely annoying. He’d get the both of them all worked up and then they’d end up doing nothing. Just because Dan thought it was funny. He better not act like this when they have kids of their own.

“I don’t know what you mean. What is _‘this’?”_

He put air quotations around ‘ _this_ ’ and of course, pretended he had no idea what he was doing.

In turn, Phil shook his head and ignored Dan, finishing his cereal and coffee and putting his dishes in the sink. When Dan asked for Phil to get his dishes as well, he just ignored him and went into the office to order the groceries for the girls.

He looked back at his texts to see what to get, before finally accumulating a list and buying everything from fruits and vegetables to, of course, ice cream. He didn’t mind if Darcy wanted something sweet to snack on. She might as well have some fun while she was here. Better to get healthy and unhealthy food rather than food that may not satisfy both of the girls’ hunger.

Phil smiled to himself as he placed the order, now going upstairs to shower and get dressed before the delivery person came.

-

“ _Phillllll.”_

Dan called out to his lover, but sadly, got no response. Obviously, Phil was still ignoring him. 

He pretended not to mind, but really, he wanted to hug and kiss him and snuggle on the couch. He thought he could shower with him, but Phil locked to door, and there was no key accessible to open it. Even if there was, Dan didn’t want to seem that needy. 

Instead, he sat cross-legged on the bed, waiting patiently for Phil to get out of the shower.

-

It was only another few minutes before Dan perked up again, hearing the sound of running water slowing down and coming to a stop. Phil figured Dan would still be in the bedroom, as he heard him come in earlier, so he decided to be the bigger tease and get dressed while he was still in the bathroom. He threw on his red plaid tee, one of Dan’s favorites, and a pair of tight black ripped jeans. 

He even made sure to spend some extra time on his hair and wear his glasses. All things he knew Dan thought of as hot.

And he was right.

As soon as Phil walked out of the bathroom, Dan first looked disappointed that he was dressed, but then his jaw dropped at just _how good_ he looked.

“Phil…”

Dan got up off of the bed and slowly walked over to Phil, the pattering of his feet on the cold floor all that was heard.

What started as Dan walking over to Phil became more like a dance routine.

Dan moved forward a bit and Phil moved back. There was a rhythm to it.

No. Maybe it was more of a game. And one that Dan was ready to play.

He moved forward a bit more, and again, Phil moved back.

This continued until Phil had backed himself up into a wall, looking around frantically when he realized what he had done.

Dan, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased with himself. He had a hand on the wall next to Phil and a mischievous smirk on his face.

“Got ya.”

He whispered as he moved in closer, giving Phil short kisses on the lips.

“Well, who’s the tease now.”

Phil chuckled, his voice deeper than usual.

“Of course I’m the tease. I’ve always been the tease.”

Dan shook his head.

“That’s not true. And you know it.”

“Daniel, I think you know better. And besides, I can easily push you away if I want to.”

Dan’s eyes went wide with a surprise for a moment too long before going back to his smirk.

“What? You don’t believe me.”

“You wouldn’t do that and you know it.”

Phil chuckled once again.

“Watch me.”

And with that, the older man pushed Dan off of him and walked away, leaving Dan flabbergasted and slightly hurt. 

He knew this was all play, it was always just playing, but today wasn’t a good day for it. Dan had been much more sensitive than usual, which wasn’t a good thing with this ‘hard to get’ game. He felt his eyes burning, but ignored it and went downstairs to lie on the couch. Phil was in another room, but he would be fine. He was always fine.

-

After another long hour passed, there was a knock on the door. Phil ran out of the office and answered, paying and accepting the groceries he had bought.

“Dan do you want to help put away the groceries?”

Phil finally popped his head in the living room to check on Dan, yet saw him curled up in a fetal position on the couch.

“Dan?”

He dropped the groceries and ran in to sit next to Dan.

“Hey. Hey, I’m here, it’s ok. It’ll be ok. I love you.”

Phil stroked Dan’s hair as he started to cry. Soft breaths being taken in after each release of air. 

The sound of small sobbing was heartbreaking.

“Hey, Bear. It’s ok. I’m sorry. I love you. I’m here.”

Dan continued to cry, feeling too bad to do anything else.

“I- I’m sorry,” was all he was able to muster.

“No. No, don’t apologize. It’s ok to cry.”

Phil rubbed Dan’s back, trying his best to soothe him.

“I’m sorry.”

Dan finally started to calm down and was able to stop crying, wiping his eyes with the sleeve on his oversized hoodie. One that Phil always thought made Dan look adorable. Not that he didn’t usually… this just accentuated it.

“It’s ok. I love you.” 

He leaned over onto Phil, finally happy once he felt the man press a soft kiss to his forehead.

“I love you too.”

Phil let Dan lean on him for the next few minutes, letting Dan calm all the way down, before getting back up to put away the groceries.

“Do you want to help? We can come right back and cuddle if you want?”

Dan smiled at the idea of that and quickly agreed.

Phil grabbed most of the groceries, leaving Dan with only a couple of bags.

“Phil you got ice cream?! It’s probably melted by now!”

The older man laughed.

“It’ll refreeze. You’re more important anyway.”

Dan felt heat rush up his face at the compliment and it left him smiling like an idiot.

-

“Did you put away the milk?”

Phil turned around to see Dan nod his head.

“Yup. Is that everything?”

“I believe so. You wanna go back to the living room now?”

Dan nodded his head once again, a cute smile now adorning his lips.

“Alrighty.”

Phil grabbed his hand and walked the short way to the living room, plopping down and letting Dan snuggle up against him.

His head ended up on Phil’s chest and Phil’s arm was slung around him. A blanket on top, just for extra warmth.

“I love you, Dan.”

He smiled, looking up at the older man.

“I love you, too.”


	3. Darcy and Pearl

“Phillllll!”

Dan rolled over, straddling the man and shaking him awake.

“Hil”

Phil’s soft voice in the morning was always something comforting to Dan. 

It made his stomach fill with butterflies. 

It was still hard for him to believe that he actually had all of these good things in his life and that he wasn’t just dreaming. Lots of times he didn’t feel like he deserved any of it, but he would never say that. He didn’t want Phil getting upset with him...

“Morning! Are you excited for the girls to come over today?”

The elder laughed and sat up to give Dan a soft kiss on the lips.

“Of course I’m excited! And I know they are as well. I was up late texting with Louise. She was telling me how excited Darcy was to see us. Apparently she had a hard time falling asleep last night.”

A faint smile adorned Dan’s face, which Phil found adorable and leaned down to kiss once again.

“I love you, Bear.”

“I love you, too.” 

Phil rolled over and stared at the ceiling, listing off everything they had to get completed that day.

“We should probably get ready so that the house will be nice when the girls get here. Put anything that’s not appropriate somewhere where they won’t find it and make sure the room that they’ll stay in looks nice. And are we ordering takeout out tonight or are we cooking?”

“We can cook a pizza, ya?”

“That works.”

Phil smiled at the younger boy and yawned, finally getting out of bed and heading to the kitchen, Dan following closely behind him.

It didn’t take long for them to prepare breakfast, coffee, and cereal, and eat it, before they were both sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and snuggled up close to one another watching Food Wars on the television. Of course, they should’ve been doing more productive things, but it was rainy outside and still early in the morning, too early. Usually they would just be getting up, yet they were supposed to be getting ready for Darcy and Pearl to come over, leaving them needing more time to clean up their apartment.

“Phil do you think we should start to clean up the place? They’ll be over in just a few hours.”

Phil picked up his phone to check the time, noticing that it was, in fact, half-past one.

“Yes, probably. Do you want to finish watching this episode first? Then we can put on some music and clean up.”

Dan nodded.

“That works.”

Dan leaned back onto Phil, smiling happily as Phil messed with his hair. 

-

The minutes ticked by as the two finally decided to get off of the couch and be productive. Dan connected his phone to the speaker and put on the playlist they had put together specifically for cleaning. They had to have one, otherwise, they would get sidetracked and start doing other things.

Once they had started putting things away and wiping down the counters, it didn’t take them long until they were almost finished and setting up the guest bedroom for Darcy and Pearl. It was a smaller room, but it was always there for if they had guests over. The sun shone brightly through the window and made it a very comforting and happy room, something that they wanted for when people came over. It was one of the most important things to them… That everyone was happy and comfortable when they were staying over.

Phil ran into the hall closet to find the blow-up mattress and extra blankets while Dan grabbed the extra pillows. They met back up in the room, out of breath from all of the cleaning they’d already done. This was the last task though, and then Phil had to start working on making dinner.

“Ready?”

Phil nodded at Dan, tossing the air mattress on the floor and putting the motor into the hole, inflating the bed in a little under two minutes. The two worked like clockwork as they put the sheets onto the bed and made the pillows look inviting for the girls. They even brought Dan’s beanbag in for Darcy as she always ended up on it when she was over with Louise.

“I think everything looks good. You think they’ll be happy with it?”

Phil smiled over at Dan, pride clear on his face.

“Yes. I think they’ll be very happy.”

“Time to cook dinner?”

Phil nodded, walking over to Dan and giving him a small kiss.

“Love you.”

Dan smiled, joy overtaking his features.

“I can’t wait to be a parent one day. I bet we’ll make wonderful dads. Raising an adorable kid together. This is going to be a fun night, ya?”

Phil chuckled at his boyfriend. He didn’t know how he deserved him. 

“It’ll be fun… get us ready for something more serious.”

-

“They’re going to be here in like… five minutes I reckon.”

Phil nodded, pulling the pizza out of the oven and setting it on the stovetop, ready to be cut and served.

“Ok. Everything is ready for when they get here. You finished setting the table, right?”

Dan walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Phil, giving him a small kiss on the neck before answering.

“Yes. Everything is ready. And the pizza looks amazing by the way.”

Phil smiled, running his fingers through his quit.

“Thanks, Bear.”

Phil moved out of Dan’s grip to finish with the food but glanced behind him to see Dan’s blushing face. The name always made him blush. It was a nickname that Dan had been given by his family and something Phil had started using early into their relationship, but it was extremely meaningful for both of them.

“Love you.”

“Love you more.”

The blush on Dan’s face deepened as he smiled. No matter how many years had gone by, he still couldn’t believe he had Phil. It all felt like a crazy fever dream.

A knock on the door interrupted Dan’s thoughts.

“They’re here! I’ll get the door.”

“Ok!”

Phil smiled and brought the pizza over to the table, filling the four glasses with water.

“Hi, Louise! How are you?”

“Hi, Dan! We’re doing good.”

Dan gave her a side hug, not wanting to squish Pearl who she was holding in her arms.

“Hi, Dan!” 

Once Louise let go of him, Darcy ran to him and gave him an equally big hug.

“Aren’t you getting tall?”

The girl laughed at Dan’s comment and ran into the apartment to give Phil a hug as well.

“Come in, Louise.”

Dan moved aside as Louise walked in with Pearl in her arms. She followed the boy into the dining room and sat down at her usual spot next to Darcy, Dan and Phil sat opposite them. Pearl sat in Louise’s lap while they ate.

“Pearl has already eaten, so don’t worry about feeding her tonight. And, as you can tell, Darcy is very excited about being here.”

The young girl nodded as she took another bite of her pizza.

“Yes. I’m really happy you agreed to let us stay over. I can help with Pearl by the way! I have to help Mummy all the time.”

The two boys smiled.

“Thank you, Darcy, that’s very kind.”

Phil was honestly happy about that, as he wasn’t sure they would be able to do this without a little bit of help from someone experienced.

“Where will me and Pearl sleep?”

Darcy cocked her head as she asked the question as if it were something she could ponder for hours.

Dan chuckled and answered before Phil could beat him to it.

“We’ve spent the day setting up the guest bedroom for you too. And… we’ve put the beanbag that you love in there!”

Her face lit up and she squealed a bit.

“Did you really?! Thank you!”

The three adults chuckled at how adorable Darcy was being. Pearl didn’t do much but look around and try to form words occasionally, but she was still equally as adorable.

-

“Well… I should be heading off soon. Thank you two for dinner though. You’re amazing and I honestly can’t thank you enough.”

Louise smiled brightly, handing Pearl to Darcy and giving them both a kiss on the head.

“Of course, Louise. We’d do anything for you.”

Phil smiled and gave her a hug, Dan doing the same.

“Now, Darcy, please be good, like always, and help with the baby. Ok?”

Darcy smiled a toothy smile and nodded her head, waving goodbye to Louise as she left the home.

“Tonight will be fun, right?!”

Both the boys chuckled, Dan, answering her question.

“We have some fun things planned, so yes, I’m sure.”

“Yay!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter wasn't really great and I couldn't really find a good flow but I needed to finish it so I could start the next chapter of it, so I'm just hoping the next chapter will be better! ^-^


End file.
